Hydrogen peroxide is known for use in particular for sterilizing containers prior to aseptic filling of the containers. Nevertheless, hydrogen peroxide is considered as being a pollutant and precise standards therefore exist concerning the residual quantities thereof that are acceptable when the container is to contain foodstuffs. In order to satisfy those standards, containers must be treated with a treatment gas that is free from any droplets of liquid.
It is known to extract hydrogen peroxide from a hydrogen peroxide solution by causing the solution to evaporate. In particular, it is known from document U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,173 to spray a solution of hydrogen peroxide into a flow of air and then to put the resulting stream into contact with the inside wall of a heated tube. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that all of the solution is in the vapor state, it is necessary to provide a tube of great length, thereby giving rise to an installation that is bulky. In addition, the solution deposits solid residues inside the tube, which residues are inaccessible and therefore difficult to eliminate.
It is also known from document WO 91/17804 to provide an evaporator that has a cylindrical enclosure with a heated wall into which a liquid mixture is introduced in spray form by means of a liquid nozzle arranged to introduce the liquid for spraying with cyclonic movement inside the enclosure. Nevertheless, that evaporator is for distilling a fraction of the mixture and its structure does not make it possible to obtain a transformation of the liquid into a purely gaseous stream.